Pulling and lasting machines

ABSTRACT

A machine for pulling and lasting a shoe upper has a plate for applying cement to an insole of the shoe having a knurled surface for applying the cement to forepart side portions of the insole and channels for applying the cement to toe portions of the insole. The machine also has wipers for pressing marginal portions of the upper forepart against the insole portions to which the plate has applied cement, including asymmetrically curved heelward portions of the insole forepart. Grippers adjacent the heelward portions of the insole forepart grip adjacent marginal portions of the upper and move downwardly and twistingly of a last over which the upper is positioned to tension the upper about the last. A control responsive to a left or right shoe orientation of the machine then causes only one of the grippers at the inside of the right or left shoe to additionally move inwardly and then upwardly relative to the last to further position and tension the upper.

United States Patent [191 Garner et al.

[ PULLING AND LASTING MACHINES [75] Inventors: Derek H. Garner; GeorgeH.

Bosworth; George C. Barton, all of Leicester, England [73] As'signee:USM Corporation, Boston, Mass. [22] Filed: Jan. 16, 1973 [21] App]. No.:324,246

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 18, 1972 Great Britain2380/72 [52] U.S. Cl. 12/10.1, 118/410 [51] Int. Cl A43d 21/00 [58]Field of Search 12/7, 10.1, 10.5, 12, 12.4, 12/12.5, 11.3, 14.5;118/407, 410, 411

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,220,035 ll/1965 Schindler12/12 3,332,096 7/1967 Kamborian et a1. l2/10.5 3,390,411 7/1968 Benken12/l0.5 3,404,416 10/1968 Stein et al 12/10.5 3,434,169 3/1969 Teerlinget a1 12/12 3,575,137 4/1971 Marquis ll8/4l1 It 0] l 7 6 6 113E; a l bio 40 [111 3,818,526 1 June 25, 1974 Primary Examiner-Patrick D. LawsonAttorney, Agent, or Firm-Vincent A. White; Richard B. Megley [5 7ABSTRACT A machine for pulling and lasting a shoe upper has a plate forapplying cement to an insole of the shoe having a knurled surface forapplying the cement to forepart side portions of the insole and channelsfor applying the cement to toe portions of the insole. The machine alsohas wipers for pressing marginal portions of the upper forepart againstthe insole portions to which the plate has applied cement, includingasymmetrically curved heelward portions of the insole forepart. Grippersadjacent the heelward portions of the insole forepart grip adjacentmarginal portions of the upper and move downwardly and twistingly of alast over which the upper is positioned to tension the upper about thelast. A control responsive to a left or right shoe orientation of themachine then causes only one of the grippers at the inside of the rightor left shoe to additionally move inwardly and then upwardly relative tothe last to further position and tension the upper.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 1 PULLING AND LASTING MACHINES BACKGROUND OFTHE INVENTION This invention relates generally to shoe upper formingmachines and, more particularly, to a machine for performing a pullingand lasting operation in the entire forepart region of the shoe.

Until recently, machines for lasting shoes have been limited inoperation to a particular portion of the shoe. Early efforts atcombining the functions of the various machines then required to last anentire shoe forepart led to complex and expensive machines.

United States Letters Patent No. 3,099,846 issued Aug. 6, 1963 in thenames of H. Lane et al describes a prior effort at simplifying thedesign and reducing the cost of a machine for lasting toe, forepart andball regions of a shoe. In the machine described in the patent an upperand an insole are positioned on a last and supported at the forepart ofthe insole on a support of the machine. Grippers positioned about thesupported last grip the upper and pull it over the last and toward edgesof the last adjacent the insole.

A cement applying plate having a surface conforming to the shape of theinsole on the last in both the peripheral outline of the insole and thesurface or planar configuration of the insole on the last was lateradded to the machine. The conformed surface of the insole engaging platewas positioned to have its insole engaging surface parallel to theinsole at each point corresponding to the insole on the last. The platewas then removed toward the insole simultaneously to engage the insoleover the entire insole engaging surface of the plate. A single channelformed about peripheral portions of the insole engaging surface andhaving an open side in the surface was then supplied with cement to forma bead of cement about the peripheral portions of the insole engagedwith the open side of the channel. The cement applying plate was thenwithdrawn and wipers engaged marginal portions of the upper with theadhesive bead on the marginal portions of the insole to secure the upperto the insole.

While the machine described has been satisfactory, it has been desiredto improve the application of cement to the insole, particularly at theheelward portion of the forepart of the insole.

Copending United States Patent application Ser. No. 308,694 filed Nov.22, 1972 in the names of Garner et al describes still furtherimprovements to the machine of the above patent. Particularly, animproved plate for applying cement to the heelward portion of an insoleforepart and improved gripper action for drawing an upper toward theinsole in the heelward portion of the forepart are shown. However, thedisclosed machine has no provision for accommodating the differingasymmetrical inside and outside peripheral and planar curvatures of theheelward portion of insole foreparts for wiping the upper against theinsole in this region. There is also no means in the machine of thecopending application for further improving the application of cement inthe toe portion of the insole.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the inventionto provide a machine having both shoe upper tensioning and wiping meansasymmetrically operable in correspondence with the asymmetricalcurvatures of the heelward portion of the forepart region of shoe insoleand for improved cement application in the toe region of the insole.

To this end, a machine for pulling and lasting a shoe upper about a lastis provided with a pair of grippers for engaging inside and outsidemarginal portions of an upper in a heelward portion of the shoe foreparthaving different operative movements for tensioning the upper about alast over which it is positioned according to the differing inside andoutside curvatures of the corresponding portion' of the last. A control,preferably responsive to a left or right position of a shoe heel rest ofthe machine indicative of the relative inside and outside curvatures ofleft and right shoes, controls the differing gripper movement. Means,preferably self adjusting, act on a flexible wiper of the machine toconform the wiper to the differing planar curvatures of the heelwardportion of the insole forepart to improve wiping of the upper againstthe insole in this heelward portion. A cement applying plate havinggrooves extending transversely across a portion of the plate engagedwith a toe portion of the insole improves the application of cement tothe insole toe portion.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment which is intended tobe illustrative of and not a limitation on the invention will now bedescribed with reference to drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a pulling and lasting machineincluding the embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a portion of a wiper shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of a portion of the machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are side views of different positions of a gripper shownin FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a view of a toe band portion of the machine in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The illustrative machineincluding the preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 1is a shoe upper conforming machine suitable for use in both pulling andlasting a shoe upper in the toe and ball regions and forepart portion ofa shoe, i.e., that part of an insole extending from the toe to the partwhere the shoe bottom curves heightwise of the generally flat portion ofthe forepart into the shank portion. The machine has a support generallyat 2 for supporting the forepart of an insole positioned on the bottomof a last having an upper mounted over the last. For tensioning theupper about the last, the machine has a plurality of upper forepartgrippers generally designated 4, 6 and 8 disposed around the shoesupport means. After tensioning the upper with the grippers, a pair oftoe embracing wipers generally designated 12 move from the illustratedspaced apart position heelwardly and toward each other to wipe marginalportions of the upper inwardly across edges of the insole. Additionalball region wipes are each mounted on a ball lasting unit generallydesignated 20. Finally, a heel support generally designated 28 restrainsthe shoe and last against a heelward thrust imparted by the action ofthe toe embracing wipers. As so far described, the machine is gener- 3ally similar to that disclosed in the above identified U.S. Pat. No.3,099,846.

Further, the grippers generally designated at 8 and commonly called theNo. 2 forepart grippers are similar in construction and function tothose described in the above identified copending patent application. Inparticular, these grippers are designed to draw the upper downwardlyover a last on which the upper is positioned, inwardly of the last, andto twist the upper into conformity with a peripheral curvature of aninsole on the last, all in the heelward portion of the forepart of theupper. However, in the machine in this invention, both grippersgenerally designated 8 do not perform all these motions in the formingof a single shoe upper, as is explained below. Further distinctions fromthe machine of the above patent and application will also be described.

In general, this embodiment has a heel support variably positioned forreceiving right or left shoes and thereby indicating the side of theinside or outside curvatures of the shoe. Cement is applied to theinsole. The grippers then tension the upper over the last usingdifferent movements on the differing inside and outside peripheralcurvatures of the shoe. The wipers then wipe marginal portions of theupper against corresponding marginal portions of the insole including atthe asymmetrical planar curvature of the heelward portion of the insoleforepart.

FIG. 1 shows the heel support 28 mounted on a member 30 having a pivotlug at each end received in a U- shaped member 32. As seen in FIG. 3,the pivotal connection of the members 30 and 32 may be by receipt of thelugs of the member 30 in a U-shaped boss in the member 32 with the lugsretained in the boss by a bolt 34 projecting through the ends of theboss. A number of such U-shaped bosses may be vertically disposed alongthe end of the member 32 to provide heightwise adjustment of the heelsupport relative to a shoe on a last 'L positioned in the machine on aportion of the shoe support 2.

The member 32 is slidingly supported by a bolt 35 extending through aslot in a member 36. Springs 38 are stretched between lugs of the member32 and lugs of the member 36 to urge the member upwardly until the bolt35 engages a movable shaft 40 of a diaphragm thruster 42 (not shown inFIG. 1). When the wipers engage the shoe, as later explained, theyimpart a heelward force to the shoe which may dislodge it from the heelsupport. To compensate for such force, the thruster 42 is simultaneouslyactivated with the wipers to drive the shaft 40 downwardly, carryingwith it the abutting bolt 35 and connected heel support 28. The addedforce of the thruster retains the shoe firmly in the heel support.

The member 36 has a T-headed portion slidingly received in an undercutchannel of a member 46 for sliding movement normal to the plane of FIG.3 or transverse to the last L in the machine. A spring loaded frictionmember 48 normally holds the member 46 against such sliding movement,except as urged by a doubleacting piston and cylinder 50 the movablepiston of which is connected through pivoted lever 52 to a post 54 ofthe member 36 extending through a slot in the channeled member 46.Further, the member 46 is slidably mounted in a frame 56 of the machineto which a piston of a piston and cylinder combination (not shown)carried by the member 46 is connected for sliding the member 46 relativeto the frame and lengthwise of the last.

Returning to FIG. a pair of stops 56 are seen to be positioned on eitherside of the pivoted lever 52 for limiting movement of the lever. Acontrol, not shown, is effective to cause the piston and cylinder 50 todrive the lever 52 into engagement with one or the other of the stops 56in each operative position of the machine. Preferably, the controlalternates the lever between engagement with each stop. In this way theheel support 28 operatively connected to the lever 52 is shiftedalternately between a left and right position for operating alternatelyon left and right shoes, respectively. In an alternative embodiment, aswitch may be provided for controlling the piston and cylinder 50 to itsleft or right shoe condition.

FIGS. 1 and 3 also show another U-shaped member 60 having roller insoleengaging members 62 on tines of the U and receiving a pivot shaft 64through a bridge of the U between the tines. The U-shaped member 60freely rotates on the shaft 64. The shaft 64 extends from one end of alever 65 the other end of which is connected to a piston and cylinder 66for swinging the lever about a pivot intermediate its ends, as best seenin FIG. 3. In an inoperative position the rollers 62 are oriented belowthe plane of the wipers l2, and below the heelward portion of theforepart of a shoe on the last L located in the machine. After thegrippers have tensioned the upper about the last and a cement applyingsurface of a cement applying plate 72 (FIG. 1) has applied cement to aninsole positioned on the last, the wipers 12 move heelward of the lastat least to the heelward portion of the forepart and close inwardly ofthe last to wipe marginal portions of the upper against marginalportions of the insole in the well known manner. However, in theheelward portion of the forepart, the insole departs from its generallyplanar orientation in the toe region and curves upwardly as seen in FIG.3. Moreover, the planar curvature of the insole often is different orasymmetrical from the inside to the outside sides of the insole. Inaddition, the curvature changes from one style of shoe to the next.Accordingly, no one orientation of the wipers appropriate for the planarcurvature may be made for accommodating even a single pair of shoes letalone different shoe styles.

When the wipers 12 have moved to the heelward portion of the forepartand closed inwardly of the last to wipe the upper against the insole,the piston and cylinder 66 pivots the lever 65 to raise the rollers 62at the opposite end of the lever into engagement with the wipers to bendthe wipers into engagement with the insole. When the wiper on the leastcurved side of the shoe, usually the outside, engages the insole, theU-shaped member 60 pivots on the shaft 64 to continue bending the other,usually inside, wiper into engagement with the insole. This pivotingmovement of the member 60 equalizes the pressure of the wipers on theinside and outside of the shoe to uniformly press marginal portions ofthe upper on both sides of the shoe against the insole.

In order to insure appropriate wiping of the upper against the insole,the wipers 12 are usually substantially rigid. Such rigid wipers may notbe appropriately deflected by the member 60 to engage the insole.Accordingly, each wiper 12 is provided with a slot 74 (FIG. l) extendinginto the wiper from the portion engaging the heelward portion of theinsole forepart a grippers 8. FIG. 4 illustrates one of the twoidentical such grippers. A gripper member 80 is fixedly mounted on abody member 82 and a second gripper member 84 pivoted on the body memberfor gripping amarginal portion of the upper between the gripper members80 and 84. For such gripping, the pivoted gripper member 84 isoperatively connected to a piston and cylinder 86 in the body of thegripper for pivotal movement toward and away from the gripper member 80.

The body member 82 is pivotally mounted on a frame 88 of the machine bya link 90 pivotally connected at each end to the frame and the bodymember. At an end of the body member opposite the gripper members 80 and84 a bell crank 92 pivotally connects the body member to two pistons andcylinders 94 and 96. A further piston and cylinder 97 swings the grippernormal to the plane of FIGS. 4 and 5 as described in the copendingapplication.

In operation of the gripper 8 the piston and cylinder 86 first operatesto grip a marginal portion of the upper between the gripper members 80and 84. The piston and cylinder 94 then operates to raise the connectedend of the gripper body 82 while retaining the bell crank 92 in theposition relative to the body member shown in FIG. 4. The grippermembers at the opposite end of the body member then move downwardly asseen in FIG. 5. The piston and cylinder 96 may then be extended to swingthe bell crank 92 from the position shown in FIG. 4 to the positionshown in FIG. 5. The pivotal movement of the bell crank 92 drives thebody member and connected gripping members 86 and 84 to the left as seenin FIG. 5, inwardly of the last. A twisting action as described in theabove recited copending patent application may also occur.

During inward movement of the gripper, the gripper members 80 and 84 maybe raised toward the underside of the last by a slight cooperativeretraction of the pistons and cylinders 94 and 96 while retaining therelative orientation of the bell crank 92 to maintain the grippingmembers 80 and 84 in their inward position. Such raising of the grippermembers 80 and 84 presses the marginal portion of the upper against theinsole on the last in a wiper-like action to enhance the pressing of theupper against the insole with the gripping members 80 and 84. Thegripping member 84 is provided with an extended, substantially flatsurface 98 substantially parallel to the insole on the last when thegrippers are in their innermost extended position.

To appropriately accommodate the differing, asymmetrical planarcurvature of the inside and outside sides of a shoe, only one of thegrippers 8 preferably carries out the above described sequence ofmovements. The other gripper merely grips the upper and moves downwardlyof the last by action of the cylinder 94, the bell crank 92 then beingin the orientation relative to the body member 82 shown in FIG. 4.Twisting movement of the grippers may be carried out by either or bothof the grippers, again as recited in the above identified patentapplication.

In operation, the outside planar curvature of an insole in the heelwardportion of a shoe forepart is small as compared to the planar curvatureof the inside side of the heelward portion of a shoe forepart.Accordingly, it is preferably desirable to have the gripper 8 on theinside side of a shoe carry out the complete sequence of gripping,downward, inward, twisting and upward movements, thereby pressing theupper against the more curved heelward portion of the forepart insolewhich curve brings the insole substantially above the general plane ofthe toe portion of the insole. In contrast, the gripper 8 adjacent theoutside side of the shoe preferably grips the upper and moves onlydownwardly and twistingly to draw the upper toward the outside heelwardportion of the shoe forepart less curved out of the toe plane of theinsole than the inside. For the purpose, the control (not shown) whichdetermines the left and right position of the heel support 28 alsoappropriately activates the pistons and cylinders 94 and 96 to providethe inside and outside grippers 8 each with the downward movement butonly the inside one of the grippers 8 with the additional inward andupward movements. Alternatively, manually operable switches may beprovided for appropriately operating the inside and outside grippers 8.

Returning to FIG. I, the toe portion of the cement applying plate 72 isseen to have a plurality of tranve rse channels 101 each having a cementdispensing port 102 for supplying the communicating channel with cementfrom a cement dispensing passageway (not shown) internal the plate. Thechannels 101 cover the entire area of the toe portion of the plate 72and do not extend merely peripherally along the toe in a mannergenerally known for cement applying plates. The channels thereby applycement to a substantial area of the insole in the toe region of theinsole rather than in a single beading along the periphery of the toeportion. The transverse beads of cement laid down by each of thetransversely oriented channels 101 aids in spreading the cement over thetoe portion of the shoe when the wipers move heelwardly of the shoe towipe the upper against the insole inasmuch as the heelward movement ofthe wipers is normal to the transverse orientation of the cement beads.

Finally, FIG. 6 shows a toe band arrangement having a toe band 264generally of horseshoe-shaped outline roughly corresponding to the toeand forepart shape of a shoe. Two brackets 256 having anns 257 extendfrom a portion 269 of the wiper frame toward the shoe support generallyat 2. Each of the arms has a block member 258 supporting the toe band264 for distributing pressure applied to the hand during operation ofthe toe band. The frame portion 269 is mounted for movement heelward ofthe shoe to engage the toe band with the shoe on a last L on the shoesupport. Further movement of the toe band is provided by two piston andcylinder arrangements 259 each connected to one of the brackets 256 forfurther moving the toe band into engagement with the shoe..A furtherpiston and cylinder arrangement 260 operatively engages the toe band atthe extreme toe end of the shoe with a pad 262 to further conform theband to the shoe. Toward the ends of the horseshoe-shaped toe band aretwo pairs of clamping blocks 266 and 268 one of each pair being arrangedon an opposite side of the band from the other of the pair. Four pistonand cylinder arrangements 270 mounted on an extension 271 of the frame269 moves the blocks 266 and 268 to firmly engage the band 264 with theshoeto hold the upper against the last after the grippers have completedtheir operation and before the wipers move to press the marginalportions of the upper against the insole. Bases 272 of each block 268are machined to form a curved surface to more accurately press the toeband to the contours of the heelward portion of the forepart of theshoe, especially at the more curved inside side of the shoe.

Having thus described our invention what we claim l. A machine forforming a shoe upper about a last having means for tensioning the upperover the last and means for wiping marginal portions of the upperagainst corresponding marginal portions of an insole also on the lastwherein the tensioning means comprise:

a gripper for gripping a marginal portion of the upper and movabledownwardly and inwardly of the last for tensioning the upper over thelast, which gripper is additionally movable upwardly of the last duringits inward movement for engaging the upper with the insole and means forso moving the gripper.

2. A machine as in claim 1 wherein the gripper has a gripping memberhaving a generally flat surface portion for pressing the upper againstthe insole.

3. A machine as in claim 1 additionally comprising: a pair of thegrippers one adjacent an inside side of the shoe and one adjacent anoutside side and means for moving the outside gripper only downwardly ofthe last.

4. A machine as in claim 3 additionally comprising a heel supportmovable from a right to a left shoe position indicative of the insideand outside sides of the shoe and wherein the gripper moving means areresponsive to the heel rest position for determining the inside andoutside gripper movement 5. A machine for forming a shoe upper about alast having means for tensioning the upper over the last and means forwiping marginal portions of the upper against corresponding marginalportions of an insole also on the last comprising: a cement applyingsurface of a plate engageable with the insole having a plurality ofchannels transverse of a portion of the surface engageable with a toeportion of the insole for applying a plurality of transverse beads ofadhesive to the toe portion of the insole and means inside the plate forsupplying cement to the channel.

1. A machine for forming a shoe upper about a last having means fortensioning the upper over the last and means for wiping marginalportions of the upper against corresponding marginal portions of aninsole also on the last wherein the tensioning means comprise: a gripperfor gripping a marginal portion of the upper and movable downwardly andinwardly of the last for tensioning the upper over the last, whichgripper is additionally movable upwardly of the last during its inwardmovement for engaging the upper with the insole and means for so movingthe gripper.
 2. A machine as in claim 1 wherein the gripper has agripping member having a generally flat surface portion for pressing theupper against the insole.
 3. A machine as in claim 1 additionallycomprising: a pair of the grippers one adjacent an inside side of theshoe and one adjacent an outside side and means for moving the outsidegripper only downwardly of the last.
 4. A machine as in claim 3additionally comprising a heel support movable from a right to a leftshoe position indicative of the inside and outside sides of the shoe andwherein the gripper moving means are responsive to the heel restposition for determining the inside and outside gripper movement.
 5. Amachine for forming a shoe upper about a last having means fortensioning the upper over the last and mEans for wiping marginalportions of the upper against corresponding marginal portions of aninsole also on the last comprising: a cement applying surface of a plateengageable with the insole having a plurality of channels transverse ofa portion of the surface engageable with a toe portion of the insole forapplying a plurality of transverse beads of adhesive to the toe portionof the insole and means inside the plate for supplying cement to thechannel.